Well, in December, Nath issued a re-read challenge. I knew my January books right off the bat. I had been wanting to re-read the first two CL Wilson books before I read the third book. So I read Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows. I read them back to back over about three days, they were just as good as I remembered. And one thing I love about re-reading is discovering things you missed or forgot from the first time around. They are both still definitely part of my keeper shelf. If you enjoy fantasy and have not read these, you are missing out. My thought are after the summaries of both books. For the other challenge reviews for this month you can go here.

Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul Book 1) by C. L. WilsonLong ago, in the magical holocaust known as the Mage Wars, the immortal Fey and their allies fought to defeat the grasping evil of the Elden Mages and their dark-gifted supporters. During those wars, in a fit of grief-induced madness caused by the death of his mate, Fey shapeshifter Rain Tairen Soul nearly destroyed the world in a blaze of tairen fire. Now, a thousand years later, the fierce Fey king must fight to save his race from the brink of extinction and once again stop the evil rising in the homeland of his enemies, the Eld. The key to his success lies in the mortal city of Celieria, where the Mage Wars began, and with a young woman whose soul sings to him in ways no woman’s ever has, whose presence reawakens the primal fury of the tairen within his soul, and whose vast, untapped power can either save or destroy him and his people.

I thought alot about Ely's circumstances in this one. She goes to Main street to get a glimpse of the Fey and this big animal that she has only heard about swoops down and turns into a man and then tells her that she is his mate. That would kind of freak me out too.Rain has travelled to Celieria because the tairen Eye told him that the answers to their problems was in Celieria. When he gets there he senses something he never thought he would have, his truemate. In their history, Tairen Souls have never had a truemate. So he swoops down to claim his mate and is a little overwhelmed by the fact that he has a mate that he is a little dominating with her. Ely has been raised with the belief that magic is evil. Fey were people that were interesting to read about and look at but that is it. There is also the problem that Ely has just been betrothed to someone else. Rain has his work cut out for him to try to win this woman.

Lady of Light and Shadows (Tairen Soul Book 2) by C. L. WilsonSince her earliest memories, Ellysetta Baristani has feared magic, even as she has been inexorably drawn to all things Fey, especially the poetry and legends of Rain Tairen Soul. Now claimed as Rain’s truemate and no longer able to deny her own magic, Ellysetta is swept into the very center of a struggle filled with the magic and darkness she has always feared. The High Mage of Eld wants to capture her. The most murderous dahl’reisen who ever lived wants her dead. And her enemies will corrupt even the people she loves most in their quest to claim her magic for themselves.

Elly has finally accepted her magic and is trying to learn to use it better. Her mother though is making this very hard. Her mother still harbors a great fear of magic and is scared that the Fey are leading her daughter to evil. Elly is preparing for her wedding and learning more about the Fey. She and Rain are continuing to grow closer as they learn more about one another. The Eld are making a lot of mischief in the realm as they try to capture Elly and end up hurting a lot of people.

My thoughts:Great books. I am so happy that I read these again. Rain is such a great troubled hero. He has survived the horror of losing many loved ones at once and it almost drove him insane. He is trying to tame down is dominant nature a little so that he lets Elly have some choice in her life. Elly is a good match for him especially as she grows more sure of herself and confident in her powers. She will tell him "no" and her feelings about something without being afraid of him. But she is still holding some things back from him and that will bite her in the butt later. The High Mage is an intriguing bad guy, I do not mind reading the sections about him. (There are other books that I always skip over the sections with the bad guy POV but in this one they were almost always short and very informative.) I feel so bad for those trapped by him and am very curious about the little girl with his eyes that they keep mentioning.

Oooo, *melts* I am such a slave to this series. Every time I think about it I remember such an overwhelming feeling of passion, romance and pure GOOD. Love, love and love this series. Few authors have my instant and unbending trust to produce consistently good books, but Wilson definitely does.